Event Details
The last decade or so has seen the concept of seasonal eating put itself back in British diners' minds, with the reinvented modern British restaurant increasingly inspired by produce on offer throughout the changing seasons.
There are many parts of the world, though, where this concept is woven into the very fabric of food – especially so in our near neighbours in Spain, France and Italy. Think of truffle season in winter in central Italy, or white asparagus in France in the springtime.
Nowhere is this idea more prevalent, though, than Catalonia in Spain, where in a short window between late January and early April, the calçot comes out of the shadows and takes its place ubiquitously on menus from big-hitting restaurants in Barcelona and Girona to family tables in small towns throughout the semi-autonomous region. This humble ingredient – somewhere between a spring onion and a leek, with a distinctive, beautiful sweet flavour – is not just a hyper-seasonal piece of produce native to the region, but a symbol of the Catalan identity, and calçot season is celebrated whole-heartedly in a festival known as La Calçotada.
Catalan vermouth maker El Bandarra is a brand that knows a thing or two about what it means to be Catalan, so it figures that the brand would help bring the ingredient to these shores this calçot season. On Sundays throughout February, the brand has partnered up with Morito on a menu based around the calçot. You'll find it served the traditional way – a layer of charred skin on the outside, peeled off to reveal its soft, juicy centre, and served with traditional romesco sauce (a medley of roasted pepper, paprika, almonds and vinegar). As well as the main event, you'll find a choice of chicharrones (pork crackling) with butifarra sausage, judion beans and January King cabbage; cuttlefish and mussel stew with patatas pobres and saffron alioli; or judion beans,grilled purple sprouting broccoli, caper salsa and migas, a traditional dish of fried stale bread.
Sittings are 5:30pm and 7:30pm on 5, 12, 19 and 26 February, and included in the ticket price of £40 is an El Bandarra Al Fresco spritz to start, plus other El Bandarra vermuts on offer in addition to Morito's wine list. Sounds like a grand day out to us.
